The film‐forming properties of polyalkylene glycols

Abstract

Abstract It is now recognised that, for many practical applications, an important property of a lubricant is its ability to generate thick, elastohydrodynamic (EHD) films in concentrated contacts. This paper describes a study of the EHD film‐ forming properties of polyalkylenie glycol lubricants. A wide range of polyglycol structures have been examined, with different monomer types, initiators, and molecular weights. Film thickness has been measured at several different temperatures using both conventional and ultra‐thin film interferometry. From the measured film thicknesses, the effective pressure–viscosity coefficients of the lubricants have been evaluated. This has enabled a systematic investigation of the effect of polyalkylene glycol structure on both pressure–viscosity coefficient and EHD film formation.